Public Artwork
Back Pain: An On-going Life Process
Alternate title:
Mal au dos : ainsi va la vie
Artwork creator(s):
Neumark, Devora
Text author(s):
Neumark, Devora
Installation year:
1999 Description:
Action art based on a mail art activity. Five models of postcards were distributed in Montreal, Val-David and other places. A black & white photograph representing the artist's two children, seen from behind, is displayed on the front of the postcard. A text written by the artist appears on the back, on the upper left corner.
Text of the artwork:
What in my mother's life fed her need for silence and denial?
What shame did my father experience as a child?
Only recently, have I really understood that I was not at fault.
Parler est impossible dans une maison pleine de cris et de chuchotements.
Yesterday, my son put his wet hands on my back.
Shocked, I reacted as if the buckle of my father's belt
was hitting me.
Triggered into terror and pain,
I feared my capacity to do damage.
Entendre est impossible dans une maison pleine de cris et de chuchotements.
I have had a difficult relationship with my body.
For years, I lived only in my head - even outside of myself - so as not to feel.
It was the only safe place I could be.
Respirer est impossible dans une maison pleine de cris et de chuchotements.
Believing my own story has been so very difficult.
The worst thing about not having any physical scars is that there is no evidence to prove the wounding, even to myself.
La confiance est impossible dans une maison pleine de cris et de chuchotements.
Having allowed myself to feel (my pain, my fear, my anger, my pleasure),
I could begin to live without the past constantly seeping in like liquid drops of fetid waste.
Être présent est impossible dans une maison pleine de cris et de chuchotements.
Text theme:
Violence done to children
Artwork theme:
Establishes a relationship between back pain and the cycle of domestic violence, particularly violence against children.
History:
The photographs used in this performance led to the creation of a temporary installation, (one) veillings, at the Old Market Square, in 1995, during the Photography Festival organized by The Floating Gallery in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Back pain is the project that the artist produced during her residency at the Atelier de l'isle in Val-David. The symposium was held at Concordia University.
Event : Symposium Public Art as Social Intervention But Now I Have To Speak: Testimonies of Trauma, Resilience and Change
Event date(s):
1999
Artist's biography:
Devora Neumark. home beautiful 
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